1 Broken System

Xu Mang sat in the last row at the back of the classroom which was beside the windows, glancing at the teacher who was in the middle of the lecture, Mr. Tian. He knew that he would soon be kicked out of the classroom again, probably in about ten seconds.

"Xu Mang!"

"Answer the question that I have just asked!" The teacher suddenly called out toward Xu Mang who was staring around listlessly.

"Mr. Tian, I don't know." Xu Mang stood up and replied helplessly.

"Get out!"

Among the rowdy laughter of his classmates, Xu Mang walked out of the classroom. This was not the first time he had been chased out of the classroom by teachers, in the eyes of many of them, he shouldn't even be in the classroom in the first place.

"Students, please remember that you are now in your third year of high school. Don't be distracted or inattentive at this juncture of your life, all of you need to buck up and give your 120% effort!" The teacher adjusted his glasses as he continued, "If you don't give your all during this time, Xu Mang will be your future!"

Xu Mang, who had been chased out of the room, heard the comparison the teacher had placed against him. He couldn't help but want to laugh at the situation internally, because as an ordinary person, he had a special condition…

Cancer.

Like having an allergic reaction to studies, an existence that was lower than scum, Xu Mang was the epitome of a hopeless person in studies, a cancerous existence. Compared to ordinary cancerous students, Xu Mang had reached the stage where even picking up a book gave him a headache, even often having the thoughts of 'I'm a genius', that kind of thinking.

'God!

'Grant me a System, I want to try to give it my all!'

Boom!

[With me, you will be able to be promoted and have an increment to be a general manager, become a CEO, marry rich and beautiful, and walk on the path toward the pinnacle of life!]

The System has been summoned, do you confirm the binding?

Holy sh*t!

A paragraph had appeared in Xu Mang's mind all of a sudden, thousands of words had been condensed into this one line—What the h*ll!

It was happening!

It was so sudden and there wasn't any time to prepare himself for this!

Xu Mang has read many novels and most of them were related to level systems and game elements. Knowing that it was happening to you and thinking about those unlucky protagonists in the stories and how awesome they had looked after they had bound with the System…

'Today, I, Xu Mang, will take flight!'

In front of him, floated the words [Yes] or [No].

Hehe!

What a piece of cake!

Xu Mang sneered and didn't hesitate to pick the option.

"Oops!"

"I… I chose wrongly!"

Xu Mang's left hand was pinching himself as his wide eyes stared at his right hand. He couldn't imagine, couldn't believe it… this had been a once in a lifetime opportunity!

After a long while, there was a commotion in front of the classroom.

"Oh no!"

"Xu Mang is dead!"

**

In the school's infirmary, Xu Mang was lying down in one of the beds. He stared up at the ceiling above his head, pain clearly written all over his face. The heavens above had given him countless opportunities but he had let it slip through his fingers again and again, wasn't this a bit too tragic?

"Ugh!"

"Life is supposed to be simple, out with the bad, then good will come...ah! What is my life!" Xu Mang couldn't help but wax poetry about the situation that he found himself in at the moment.

[Lying down and winning]

The System has detected the host. In consideration of the limited IQ of the host, the binding has been forcefully enacted!

At this time, Xu Mang once again saw the paragraph of words appearing in his mind.

What the…

Wait a minute!

What do you mean limited IQ!

Xu Mang was unhappy. Not only had the System carried out an attack on his life, it had then forcefully enacted the bind! It totally didn't respect human rights.

"Isn't there an instruction manual that comes with this?" Xu Mang grumbled.

Just as he said that, another string of words appeared in his mind. 

Your life can only be won by lying down, do not put in any effort...the word 'effort' does not fit you, please remember that you are a salted fish1!

Understood!

Xu Mang understood the last message from the System, which was to not let himself forget his original intentions.

Next, he checked his own status page.

Host—Xu Mang

Virtue: Level 1

Intelligence: Level 1

Physical: Level 1

Aesthetics: Level 1

Labor: Level 1

Skills: None

Current task: None

Upgrade Cards*0

'What is this?'

Wanting to be a salted fish and win lying down, all these statuses still needed to be developed? Come to think of it, what did these attributes even do?

Xu Mang pressed open the Skills option, and a prompt appeared.

Hint: Too lazy to explain, find out yourself!

I…

What the f*ck!

'This System is simply toxic, what kind of lazy System is this?!'

"Xu Mang!"

"Until when are you going to lie down?"

A middle-aged man stood beside Xu Mang's bedside, his face carrying a stern expression.

"Mr. Lin...I…" Xu Mang was almost frightened to death seeing this man. He wasn't just any ordinary teacher, he was his class teacher. The man known as the devil—Lin Yishan.

"Hurry up and get to class!" Yishan glared at Xu Mang, prepared to drag the boy in front of him if he needed to. "There's a limit to pretending to be sick!"

"No, no, no!"

"Mr. Lin, please don't drag me...my heart gets slightly uncomfortable from an overly long period of studying, I need to rest for a whole day," Xu Mang said, bringing his hand up and clenching his shirt. "You don't want to see your student dying in the middle of the school, right?"

"..."

Seeing Xu Mang's behavior, Yishan wanted to ram his head and die on a tofu. Being known in the city as a top-tier teacher, how could he have such an unaspiring and useless student?

"You're grabbing your stomach!" Yishan rubbed his forehead, painfully gritting out, "Xu Mang… I'm begging you, can we just pretend to be normal human beings, at least?"

"Even if you dislike studying, don't you still have to graduate in the end? In our current society, your diploma is the one thing that will open doors for you. If you don't even have your high school diploma, you're basically garbage, you know?"

"Look at Zhao Qi from Class 3, he was the same as you in the second year of high school, at the bottom of the class. Now, look at him! At least he's getting 21 marks on his English exams!"

Yishan made his speech emotionally with emotions and logic, hoping to instill some form of psychological effect and motivation in Xu Mang.

However…

"Ha…"

Xu Mang couldn't help but to let out a sneeze. The speech was good, but unfortunately, it just didn't have any effect on him.

Yishan blew his top, grabbing Xu Mang by his collar, angrily shouting, "Get up immediately and go back to the classroom!"

Xu Mang could feel the sincere anger radiating from Yishan, and he decided to own up slightly. Although Yishan's personality was quite impulsive, there was no mistaking that he was indeed a good teacher. In this city's premier school, he hadn't given up on such a cancerous student even for his personal reputation, perhaps this was love.

Returning back to the classroom, it so happened to be Xu Mang's favourite class, English. The teacher for this lesson was a middle-aged woman. He was slightly ashamed to admit that ever since he had entered his third year of high school and had undergone a teacher change, he still didn't know her surname.

Flipping open the brand new English textbook, Xu Mang looked to the outside scenery with a blank mind, his thoughts drifting toward the big sky.

Ugh…

Did aliens exist in this world?

[New skill detected, English Skill has been unlocked]

English Skill = 0

'Even this is possible?'

Xu Mang had just finished daydreaming when the System gave him a prompt that he had acquired English skills. This opened a whole new set of questions. How would he increase the level of his English skills? And what the h*ll were these Upgrades?

"Xu Mang?"

"Did Old Lin do anything to you?" A boy who sat beside Xu Mang, using his textbook as a cover, whispered to him, "Are you getting expelled soon?"

The boy talking was named Sun Xiaoxiao, and he was quite a well-known common student. The term common student referred to those who were commoner students, throwing their all into studies, however, his results were only average.

Hearing that Xiaoxiao was just digging up dirt on himself, Xu Mang felt too lazy to bother about him. He silently lay on the table to have a nap, and this action...this action gave way to a world of miracles.

English Skill + 1

English Skill + 1

English Skill + 1

It wasn't until the end of the lesson that the numbers stopped appearing and climbing.

After careful calculation, Xu Mang found that every minute gave an extra point to the skill. One period which was 45 minutes had increased his skill by 45 points. If he was lucky enough to have a double period without any breaks in between, he could have gotten 100 points in one go!

What was this situation?

Why hadn't the English teacher come yet?

Xu Mang had never felt this way before, so anxious and excited for the class to begin.